14U 1st Live in Japan Showcase (September 2017) Post Mortem

We were planning to head outside of Tokyo to Tamashima to soak in some fresh air and nature and get away from civilisation but that smile from Sejin and wink from Hyunwoong was all that we needed to ditch our nature healing plans to go to the 14U showcase; it’s free for first timers so it’s definitely a no-brainer. LOL. We are so easy as fangirls.

As we walked towards the venue, we bumped into the 14U L-Team as they were heading out for their pre-show street promotion. Now that I got to see them face first in broad daylight, they are pretty cute and good looking. Sold!

When we arrived at the venue, it was much easier than I expected to be able to communicate with the Japanese staff that we are here for the first time to watch the 14U showcase. The Japanese, in general, has a better command of English compared to the Koreans in general it seems.

Once we got our ticket, we turned around and there they are again!! the 14U L-Team boys were back from their rounds!

In fact, after the showcase, on a different day, I did bump into one of the 14U members (E Sol, I think) and their manager yet again along the street. If it’s not fate, I don’t know what it is. LOL.

Anyway, the showcase started pretty much promptly at 3.03 pm (JST) and by the time it was done, it was about 5.35 pm (JST). I was really surprised to be honest, I totally wasn’t expecting 2.5 hours worth of 14U at the showcase. I thought we’d be done in 1.5 hours max.

14U 1st Japan Live @ KStage O!

The first 1.5 hours of the showcase was 11 or so worth of cover performances and ments; that is already one full concert by definition. There was even an encore with this cheesy anime type song and what was really funny about that performance is how you can see more than half of them are super embarrassed to perform that song. Hahahaha. After that, they reprised their debut song “VVV” and they walked among the audience to hi-five and/or shake hands with everyone.

What I found very interesting about attending a show in Japan is how the Japanese fans respect the “no photo/filming” policies. I’ve heard a lot about it but it’s really something to be sitting in the audience and see everyone respecting the rules. It’s refreshing to be honest. Like just enjoy the moment at the show people.

They do, however, allocate one particular song where they allow video recording and in this case, it’s their debut song “VVV”. They also have a photo taking time where the entire group pose for a couple of minutes, like a press photo op where they start from left to right.

After the main part of the show was over, we were about to leave when I realised that majority of them are staying behind so we asked what’s happening. Turns out that there was a photo taking session and an autograph session as well. The fans would need to buy a pass to get a polaroid photo with an individual member OR with the L or X Team. For the autograph session, it’s one pass to get one member’s autograph. Each pass costs 1,000 yen (~S$12.15) and it was going to cost a bomb if you wanted a photo with and/or autograph of every single member.

There was one final ment before the whole event concluded. So I thought, “that’s it.” but I was so wrong. I was drafting a tweet as I walked out of the place and I actually got a shock as I stepped out of the hall because I saw that the 14U members were standing in a line ready to give me a hi-five. LOL. I stepped back in surprised but I wasn’t allowed to recover as their staff gently pushed me down the line to hi-five them and herd me out.

So yeah, I had no idea what really happened. I only vaguely remember some of them saying thank you in Japanese among other things. I also vaguely remember saying “수고했어요.” to someone and he got surprised as well.

It’s because of experiences like this where something happened but you only remember a blur so you feel like you need to re-do the entire experience to absorb more details to file away in your long term memory. However, that said, I must say that my wallet is still safe as I’m only having a tiny soft spot for Sejin and I did not get sucked into this fandom. I think.

Given that the 14U boys have only debut for about 2 months when I watched them, I must say that they are alright and weren’t terrible or anything like that. I definitely can see that there’s room for improvement which they will as they undergo further training and gain more experience. And when they do improve, they’ll be dangerous.

Good luck to the 14U boys and I shall look forward to watching their personal and professional growth in the time to come.